Ms. Choi (45), a housewife living in Jamsil, Seoul, enjoys a freshly fried chicken every weekend for less than 10,000 won. She says it tastes as good as a chicken specialty store, and the portions are generous and the menu is diverse, with fried, seasoned, soy sauce, and gochujang options. “If you use discount coupons, you can enjoy 'value-for-money' chicken even more cheaply,” she said.

Chicken sold from major supermarkets has a “wing” on it. As the price of famous franchise chicken has soared to the 30,000 won range, including delivery fees (between 3,000 and 5,000 won), customers are increasingly looking for supermarket chicken that costs less than 10,000 won.

According to the retail industry on October 7, E-Mart's “Amazing Perfect Chicken (6,480 won),” which began to be sold in August, has sold 460,000 packs as of the 6th, less than two months later. The “Amazing Honey Wing Bong (9,980 won),” which was launched last month, sold 60,000 packs in the last 10 days, and the “New Boneless Chicken Gangjeong (9,980 won),” also launched in August, sold more than 100,000 packs in a month.

E-Mart's succession of new chicken products is due to the viral success of the fried “Ssangsang Chicken” and “Dumori Old Chicken” in 2022. In fact, E-Mart's chicken sales increased 32.4 percent in 2022, 43.8 percent last year, and 20.8 percent year-on-year through the first six months of this year.

An E-Mart official said, "We will continue to release new products with both good taste and price by applying our own recipes."

Lotte Mart’s chicken is also making waves. Year-on-year sales of its chicken increased 35 percent in 2022, 20 percent last year, and 30 percent so far this year.

Its flagship products include the “Big Chicken (14,990 won),” which uses domestic No. 10 refrigerated chicken, and the “New Hantong Gaaaduk Chicken (12,990 won),” which contains half of domestic chicken from No. 9 to 11. The exotic chicken with seasoning is also gaining popularity.

LOTTE Mart is introducing two new products, which are honey apple and honey soy sauce chicken kangjeong, on the 10th, as the bite-sized “Honey Chicken Kangjeong” has gained popularity.

A Lotte Mart official said, “Due to customer response, the new chicken kangjeong will be discounted by 2,000 won to 7,990 won until the 16th, and one and a half-sized chicken will be sold for 9,990 won until the 9th.”

Homeplus is continuing its success story with the Kangjeong brand's “Sotsot” after the first menu item in the “Dangdang Series,” “Dangdang Fried Chicken (6,990 won),” sold more than 10 million packs.

Homeplus’s Kangjeong sales have grown by up to 128 percent in the mega food market in the last three months. Sotsot Gangjeong consists of six varieties (15,990 won), including “Hanpan Chicken Gangjeong,” “Honey Chicken Gangjeong,” “Spicy Chicken Gangjeong,” “Variety Chicken Gangjeong,” and “Mara Shrimp Gangjeong.”

A Homeplus official said, “The key to supermarket chicken is that it should be guaranteed to taste good even when eaten at home.”